"Today, an important step has been taken towards the democratic process to build a new democratic parliamentary united Iraq," Vice President Roj Nuri Shawis said in an address to the new assembly.

"Ahead of you lies a lot of work to let all political camps and parties reach a unified position on solving Iraq's problem peacefully and within the framework of law," he said.

The assembly's 100 members will be tasked with advising the interim government in the run-up to the planned January 2005 elections.

The opening session was rocked by mortar attacks on the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad where the delegates were gathered. One person was injured.

Several prominent figures of the Iraqi political scene and former members of the now-defunct US-appointed Governing Council were not present to take the oath and had sent delegates.

Among them were the two main Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani, Massud Barzani, independent Kurdish politician Mahmud Othman, as well as Abdelaziz Hakim, a senior Shiite leader from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and former Sunni interior minister Samir Sumeida.

"Today's Iraq is a country where Kurds are not to be tracked down nor is it a place where Shiites should be killed. It is an Iraq where chemical weapons are not to be used against its people and lands and where there is no room for mass graves," Shawas said.